colbys latest

as you know, hopefully, colby gave his life to Christ a couple weeks ago.
we were at co-op on friday, and one of the boys in his class gave him a shove on his shoulder or something. i didnt actually see it happen, but i was in the room, and i think the boy was "play fighting", if that makes sense. anyway, colby didnt react at all really; he basically ignored it. his teacher saw this happen and said
ms sheri: thank you for not hitting him back, colby. that was good self control.
colby: (as serious as can be) its because i have the Holy Spirit.
we laughed because it was cute, and so sincere. how can you argue with that?

on saturday, molly and i were out of the house the first part of the day and allen and colby went to sonic for lunch. allen said they were sitting in the car eating and colby said
colby: daddy, i wish they made air fresheners that smelled like sonic food. that'd be awesome!!

we had a graet valentines day evening last night. i may post some pictures of that tomorrow or friday, or i may just wait and post extra pictures with my 365 on saturday. havent decided yet.

be blessed!

threesixfive, week 6

yay! a normal week! we got all our school work done, went to the gym 4 out of 5 week days, no one was sick, allen took his regular day off. it was glorious. im definitely a creature of habit.

sunday
to the youth pastor go the left-over disciple now spoils. the only time we have junk-food cereal in the house is when we get the left overs from the annual youth event. i eat a lot of cereal for a couple weeks. :-)

monday
the table in the school room was cleared off enough for both colby and molly to sit there and do their work. i thought it was a cute photo-op.

tuesday

theres a sandwich place here (which wich) that ive mentioned before. your sandwich is delivered in a paper bag, and "the thing" to do is decorate it and hang it on the line. i spotted these two bags side by side. its wesley and inigo montoya from the princess bride. love it.

wednesday

who knew lunchables could be so much fun?

thursday

colby drew a picture of me. i didnt realize my hands were so large. and apparently i wear a bad toupee.

friday
the boys' class at co-op played with cornstarch and water. it was a ridiculous and very fun mess!!

saturday

my friend emilie had a candyland birthday party for her 2-year-old. she and i made this cake saturday morning!!! we were so proud of ourselves. it was so much fun.

another mostly normal week awaits me. it was actually cold enough this afternoon for some sleet, and if that keeps up we wont be getting out much tomorrow, but i think its supposed to be back up in the 70's by tuesday. another month or so and we'll be spending our afternoons at the pool!!
have an excellent week, my friends!

threesixfive, week 5

we had such an exciting week!! colby became my little brother in Christ tuesday night, we just wrapped up disciple now weekend at church (more on that with friday and saturdays pictures), and i'm going to make this quick because we have people over for the superbowl!

sunday
i dont know where they heard about it, but molly and colbys new favorite thing to do it plank. molly climed up on the kitchen counter and said, "mommy, come take a picture! i'm planking!"

monday

dentist appointments. :-/

tuesday

colby gave his heart to Jesus!!! hes been asking questions lately, and wanting to talk about it a lot. when allen got home from a dinner meeting, we talked about it as a family, and prayed together. he was so excited! i took this picture while he was on the phone telling my dad.

wednesday

we went to chic-fil-a before church, and this is how they spelled my name on the ticket. i've never seen amy spelled this way. very interesting.

thursday
colby and molly waiting for swim to start.

friday

its disciple now weekend! i was a co-host for one of the 7th grade girls' houses. we had 174 students in 25 homes this year. it was an amazing weekend.

saturday

each group is assigned a mission project to do on saturday. about half are for widows and elderly within our church body, and the rest are projects we get thru our local serving center for people in the community. we we given the task of pulling up and rebuilding a single mom's patio. we also mowed her lawn, pulled the weeds, and planted some flowers in her flower bed.

have a blessed week!!!

threesixfive, week 4

january has flown by! can you believe it?
we had a good week. the kids got to go to all their classes and events, and school was even finished each day!
bacon (our pet pig you can read about in the previous post if you missed it last week) was picked up monday and taken back to where he came from to be sold to someone else. and yes we got our money back. he wasnt a bad pet; just not the right pet for us. this may sound bizarre, but i'm good with snakes and frogs. i imagine theres a lizard in our future, but not for awhile.


sunday
we were given a dutch oven a couple weeks ago and i've used it a few times. its fabulous, and makes delicious stews and roasts. the best part for me? its red!

monday
we went to dunkin donuts for "dessert" after dinner. this is what the kids wore.

tuesday
we got the call tuesday afternoon that our friends had their third baby. after thinking about it for a couple days settled on the name mason. they'll call him ace. we went to the hospital that night to visit. so cute!!



wednesday
on the way home from mollys dance class i saw something sticking up out of the back of the truck in front of me. i kept laughing because it reminded me so much of the robot from short circut (one of my favorite movies when i was a kid--1986 to be exact). the first picture is one i pulled from the internet so you could see the comparison if youve never seen the movie. the second is the picture i took.

thursday

we had some friends over for dinner, and towards the end of the evening we got to talking about food. they had never been to gordoughs (a gourmet donut food trailer in austin), so we got one of the college students from church to come over so we could take them for dessert. i might add it was almost 11pm by the time we got down there. we felt like a group of college students ourselves. it was as delicious as ever.

friday

it was crazy hat day at co-op (just explaining colbys attire). the young explorers class did a lesson about taste and tastebuds. colby tasted coffee grounds, lemon juice, sugar, pretzels, and ate pink mashed potatoes and green eggs. it was a fun morning.

saturday

remember all those strips of cut up tshirts i posted a picture of a couple weeks ago? heres that project finally taking shape. can you guess what its going to be?

we have disciple now next weekend, so we'll be gearing up for that this week. the kids will be going to mimis house on friday, and i'll be helping with a group of our girls at a home somewhere in the city! i'll find out at the meeting tomorrow where allens putting me.
have a great week!!

threesixfive, week 3

another week of sickness misxed in with a little adventure.
molly woke up in the middle of the night monday with an ear infection and what turned out to be some kind of throat infection (???). so now, on saturday night, colbys got one dose of antibiotic left, and molly is about half way thru her rounds of two different antibiotics. crazy. i'm hoping we'll finally be done with all this after next week.
also...we got a pig. with colbys allergies, i started looking into teacup pigs, and mini pot bellies, etc, but theyre very very expensive. we found out a friends uncle had one they were wanting to sell because their daughter, who they bought it for in october for her birthday, wasnt interested in it anymore. bacon came to live with us (yes thats his name) friday afternoon, but the excitement was short lived. colby and molly loved him for about an hour, but then realized that, although hes super cool (i mean, its a pig, right?!?), hes not exactly soft and cuddly and playful. the kids spent all saturday morning in their rooms with their doors shut because they didnt want the pig coming in, and then later in the day colby said. "hes not that great. i cant hold him and love on him like i could roxy." roxy was the puppy we had to give back after having her for only a day because colby and i both reacted to her. that made sense, but its still a bummer. the good thing is im not having to get rid of it and break my kids' heart, theyre completely willing to give him back. when the guy we bought him from brought him over yesterday, i had asked him if we could take him on a "trial basis" in case it wasnt a good fit, and he said yes. so thats a good thing too. the lesson ive learned thru all this, between the puppy and the dog, is that we're probably just not pet people. not big pets anyway. snakes and frogs i can do. and maybe lizards. but anything not requiring a small cage should probably be off limits to the frans clan.
here are the pictures for the week.

sunday
we went to chuck-e-cheese for adlers birthday.

monday

we went to a church strategy conference in houston on tuesday, so we drove up monday night so my mother in law could keep the kids at her house while we were gone for the day. colby didnt finish his school monday, and had to bring it with him to mimis house. i took a picture of him finishing up his work, and he did not appreciate it.

tuesday

this is the stage at the conference. so cool! i want this in my house!!

wednesday

we stayed home wednesday and rested from the long day tuesday and molly not feeling well. colby dressed up and performed for my entertainment.

thursday

colby and mo acting silly in the car while we were waiting for swim school to start.

friday

meet bacon. our temporary new addition.

saturday

bedtime for bacon.

have a great week everyone!!!

threesixfive, week 2

hello everyone!! we've been fighting a losing battle with allergies this week. colby woke up thursday with an ear infection, and was put on an antibiotic as well as a nasal spray because just the inhaler and zyrtec arent doing the trick. poor guy. he inhereted my "i hate pollen and mold" gene. mollys been pretty snotty, too, so they stayed home from co-op on friday. the jury is still out on church tomorrow. i'll have to see how theyre doing in the morning.
other than that little hiccup, it was so stinkin awesome to have a predictable, routine-filled week.
lets have a look....

sunday

we made a trek out to the waffle house for dinner with a group from church. youre looking at hashbrowns; scattered, smothered, covered, and topped. that means chili, onions, and cheese. they weren't bad, but i'll stick with waffles next time.

monday

my parents came by to say hi and ended up staying for dinner. my dad hates mushrooms (too late, i had already put them in), but just to show hes a good sport, he tried one. it was a no go. he ate around them.

tuesday

i made this! its a 5-strand tshirt headband. i even used my sewing machine! i made a really fat teal one too that broke my needle. :-/ they're great for wearing to workout! and cute, too. forgive the smattering of bath towels in the background. welcome to my bathroom, which will hopefully get decorated post tax-return.





wednesday

the conference room at church where i meet with my accountability partner every wednesday. this was our first week back in over a month with the holidays and grandpa passing away. it was so good to sit and visit with her! love you, girl!





thursday

one of my christmas presents and new favorite toys (besides my sewing machine which i'm still learning how to use). i'm drinking way too much tea and coffee because its just so darn convenient.

friday

i'm cutting about 40 tshirts into 1in X 4in strips. i'll show you why hopefully in a couple weeks. fingers crossed i can get it done in time for disciple now.

saturday

a few of the senior girls came over tonight to celebrate one of them turning 18. i made tacos and we had cupcakes. we also played quelf. if you've never heard of this game, then the picture will make no sense to you whatsoever. i'm wearing a homemade snorkel and a foil glove on my left hand in which i'm also holding a yankee candle because its not my turn and its also bigger than my fist, AND i'm hiding in a fort i had to construct until my next turn. out. of. control.

for those of you suffering from early spring allergies (booo to cedar fever!) i hope for both our sakes that it clears up soon! i heard the other day that theres talk of a bill being passed in austin forbidding the planting of cedar trees and mandating the cutting down of all those currently in the city limits because they use too much water, something thats a hot commodity around here lately. i love trees, but i think i would support that happening. my nose and eyes would be so grateful!

have a blessed week!

threesixfive, week 1

i can believe its a new year! 2011 flew by so quickly, of course that seems to be happening each year the older i get, or the older my kids get as it may be.
i'm sticking with project 365 again this year. even though the pictures get redundant or boring sometimes, i'm always glad i have something to look back on and remind me of what we did week in and week out. it also keeps me on here more consistently than i would be otherwise.

you get a few extra pictures this week. we got together with the barners and lamberts for NYE like we do every year. i believe this is the 8th year in a row. its so good to have friends like that.
we also drove to mt pleasant for grandpas funeral (he died in a hospital in tyler on friday the 30th. i blogged about it a few entries ago if youre interested in details). its unfortunate to need such circumstances to get together with family, but it was so good to see everyone, even friends of my parents and grandparents that i hadnt seen in probably 20 years!

here we go...

sunday, jan 1st
lambets, us, and barners at woodland in downtown austin. delicious!!! if youre ever in the austin area, i highly recommend it!

monday, jan 2nd

we drove 6 hours to mt pleasant. the viewing was monday night.

tuesday, jan 3rd

me and my dad at grandma and grandpas house, after the funeral

this is my uncle (hes in the back towards the left) and his eight kids, who i pretty much never get to see (they live in louisiana). grandma is with them on the front row, left side.

uncle scott, grandma, and dad




wednesday, jan 4th

colby and molly hanging out in grandpas chair

thursday, jan 5th

i started practicing with my new sewing maching. all i have is strips left over from the wreaths i made for christmas, so ive been sewing them together. im getting the hang of it....i think. :-/

friday, jan 6th

molly missed a friends birthday party over the new years weekend, so she brought molly a party hat to co-op today. so sweet.

saturday, jan 7th

a lazy day at home complete with brownie twists from the easy bake oven. all they did was make me want real brownies.

im SSOOOO ready to be back in a routine after the last few weeks we've had. the kids didnt do school at all this week, and i havent been to the gym since before christmas thanks to a stubborn case of bronchitis that im just now getting over. seriously, monday cant get here fast enough!

blessings to you all this first weekend of 2012!